A cinematic tribute to Sacred Defense Week – part 1

On the occasion of Iran’s Sacred Defense Week, iFilm English presents a three-part cinematic review on Iranian war films.

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1. ‘The Night Bus’ (2007) by late Kioumars Pourahmad

‘The Night Bus’ tells the story of a twenty-four-hour journey with two young Iranian soldiers, Issā and Emād, and a civilian driver named Amu Rahim. They are transporting thirty-eight Iraqi prisoners of war from behind enemy lines to an Iranian garrison during the third year of the Iraq war on Iran.

The film shows the harsh realities of war and its impacts on both sides, highlighting the shared humanity of the soldiers involved. The characters in the movie speak Persian to each other with different regional accents, emphasizing their national unity.

2. 'From Karkheh to Rhein' (1992) by Ebrahim Hatamikia

'From Karkheh to Rhein', also written by Hatamikia, is a story about Saeed. He was injured by a chemical weapon during the Iraq-Iran war. To fix his eyes, Saeed goes to Germany to live with his sister Leila, who is married to a German man and has a child.

After three years, Saeed's eyesight gets better, and he has a new and dangerous life ahead of him. His sister Leila sees Saeed as a way to remember their distant and precious past. Saeed plans to go back to Iran, but the results of his recent medical tests change everything in a big way.

3.‘The Glass Agency’ (1998) by Ebrahim Hatamikia

The movie is one of Hatamikia's most successful works and one of the most talked-about films in post-revolutionary Iranian cinema.

Hatamikia’s story is set in a travel agency where an armed veteran takes hostages some people after failing to raise enough money for his injured comrade to travel abroad for medical treatment.

‘The Glass Agency’ won many awards at the 1998 Fajr International Film Festival, including awards for best film, best actor, best supporting actor, best supporting actress, best director, best music, best screenwriter, and best film editor.

4. ‘Track 143’ (2013) by Narges Abyar

This movie, produced by Mohammad-Hossein Qasemi and Abouzar Pour-Mohammadi, tells the story of a young man who goes to fight in the Iraq-Iran war.

His mother, who is very sad because her son is gone, really wants to know what happened to him. She doesn't even know if he got caught by the enemy or if he's no longer alive.

The movie ‘Track 143’ was made in 2013. It was nominated for seven awards at the 32nd Fajr Film Festival in Iran and succeeded to win the audience award. Also, Merila Zarei grabbed an award for the best actress.

5. ‘Kani-Manga’ (1966) by late Seifollah Daad

‘Kani-Manga’ is an Iranian war movie also written by the late Iranian director Daad. It tells the story of an Iraqi pilot whose plane gets shot down by the Iranian army during the war. He manages to survive by parachuting down to Kani-Manga Mountains.

At the Fajr Film Festival, ‘Kani-Manga’ received two Crystal Simorgh awards for Best Compilation (Rouhollah Emami) and Best Special Effects (Mohammad Reza Sharafuddin). It was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor, Ali Sabetfar, and received a special Jury Award at the same festival.

Stay tuned for the next parts of our series as we celebrate the indomitable spirit of a nation during the Sacred Defense Week and beyond. There's much more to discover in the world of Iranian cinema, so don't miss out on the next chapters of “A cinematic tribute to Sacred Defense Week”.

Also read:

A cinematic tribute to Sacred Defense Week – part 2

A cinematic tribute to Sacred Defense Week – part 3

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